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CoINEF Newsletter

NEWSLETTER JUNE 2017

CoINEF (Community Initiatives North East Fife)

North East Fife Superfast Broadband Project

We know many of you are still struggling with poor broadband speeds and the frustration that it brings to your daily working and family lives.
We continue to hard to bring Superfast Broadband to the communities in rural and landward North East Fife who have little or no access to the minimum national target for superfast broadband of 24mbps or the planned Universal Service Obligation (USO) of10mbps.

Procurement
The past two months have been very busy ones for CoINEF, ensuring that all the processes are in place that will allow us to undertake a successful Procurement.
Some Background
CoINEF must go through the procurement process, by law, as CoINEF is benefitting from government funding to part fund the North East Fife Superfast Broadband Project.
Public sector procurement (required for Government Funding) is subject to a legal framework which encourages free and open competition and value for money.
The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) is listed on Public Contracts Scotland where companies will access and can submit their tender. The ESPD will have a response period of 4 weeks.
As of 18/4/2016 all Scottish Public bodies must issue and accept the ESPD Procurement form for all procurement exercises above the EU threshold.
The OJEU (The Official Journal of the European Union) notice was posted for the NEF Superfast Broadband Project online 12/4/17 – 14/4/17 (after a short delay due to European/UK May Day holiday). The response period for potential suppliers from that date is 4 weeks (which is closure).

We will be starting the selection and review stages of the responses to the initial invitation to tender (ITT) with a view to selecting qualified bidders who will then receive a formal invitation to tender.
The procurement process will unfold after that and we will update you on progress in our next newsletter.

www.nefifesuperfast.co.uk

After final testing, our web site for (COINEF and the North East Fife Superfast Broadband Project) should be live by 5 June 2017. It provides:
Background information
• On CoINEF and the journey undertaken by our predecessor organisations on bringing broadband to North East Fife.
• Detailed timelines on the background to the process and progress made by CoINEF and their partners & stakeholders on the final project.This may provide some insight on why the project has taken so long to come to fruition.
• There is an interactive map of the areas & postcodes that this project will cover to help you identify your own eligibility for inclusion.
• A registration process and contact us.
• A number of local ‘case studies’ provided by individuals and businesses who are struggling with poor access or no broadband
• FAQ’s and a helpful glossary of technical terms and acronyms
You will be able to access all this information via your mobile phone or other device.

Finally
A considerable amount of work has been undertaken since the start of the year by the staff, volunteers and voluntary board members with the support and advice from our local partners and the national stakeholders.
We now feel that we really are making progress and thank you for your patience!